Best Friend's Brother

Chapter Three

We decided to meet back at my house so Matt could drop off his car and I could drop off the manuscript. He wasn't too happy about taking my car but I'd feel much more comfortable driving around the Mercedes than the clunker he drove.

I pulled into the driveway before Matt since he didn't know exactly where he was going this being the first time at my house. I made it to the front door before he got out of his car and took a look at the place I called home.

"You live here alone?"

I nodded and unlocked the door. "The bright side of being the favourite grandchild of rich people. They left me a good chunk of change with which I could happily retire. Instead, I bought a house."

He shook his head and followed me inside. "Can I cancel the hotel reservation and just crash here?"

I paused in the hallway, manuscript hovering an inch above the table beside the door. I didn't know how good of an idea it would be for Matt to spend the night here. Whitney would expect to pick him up from his hotel in the morning, not her best friend's house.

He laughed. "I was joking, Claire. I don't expect you to let me stay here for the night."

I hugged the manuscript to my chest and smiled at him. "You know what, let's make a compromise. You can stay in one of the guest rooms as long as I can finish going through this thing before we go out."

He looked at the heavy book in my arms and sighed. "I don't know, that thing's pretty thick."

"Give me two hours. I'll even treat you to a very delicious dinner as compensation."

He smiled. "Do I get to choose the room?"

I laughed. "As long as you don't try to steal mine."

He kicked off his shoes and then walked to the stairs. "Deal. Come find me in two hours and we'll go."

At exactly six oh five, an hour and fifty seven minutes since making the deal with Matt, I finished going through the manuscript. The good thing about Sydney was that he used simple words and a large font. If he was a new writer Alyssa - the editor that handled the newbies - would have sent it back without reading it since it didn't conform to the kind of manuscripts the company dealt with. Since he'd been writing for Dynamic Publishing for the last fifty years he could write his manuscripts any way he wanted and I'd have to figure out what it was he'd written.

I found Matt in the second smallest guest bedroom with his things throw across the bed. He was standing at the window looking out at the country club and the people heading towards the restaurant.

"Like the view?"

He turned and saw me standing in the doorway. "Your house is huge. I dropped my stuff off in the first bedroom I found but I feel like I could have made a better choice."

I laughed and walked over to join him by the window. "You could have. There are some very nice rooms on the fourth floor that you missed but they're all decent enough."

He shook his head and looked at the clothes spread out on his bed. "Please tell me you didn't mean we'd be eating there when you said you'd be buying me an expensive meal."

I smiled. "Why? Afraid you don't have the proper outfit?"

He snorted and held up a pair of jeans. "I don't think they'd let me in there wearing these."

I laughed. "You can wear whatever you want and they'll have to deal with it. You can wear the jeans or we can make a quick stop at a tailor's to get you something nicer."